Digging for Finds

I've had a hard week deadline-wise, so I'm going to do myself a favor today and take the day off. I cleaned the house last night and want to make a special dinner for my husband when he comes home this weekend, celebrating his new job and moving forward in our new lives here.
That requires a trip to town and to the grocery.
For me, the celebration will start this morning when I visit a couple of the antique shops in our tourist town. My love for browsing antique shops started as a child when my parents and I would begin most Sunday mornings in small towns surrounding our larger metropolitan area. They would get up early and find the auction notices in the newspaper and off we would go. Sometimes they would hit pay dirt, sometimes not, but I developed the love my mother had for everything old. When I was younger, I enjoyed it more, but as a teen, I quit going with my parents on those outings, reserving Sundays for sleeping in or spending time with my boyfriend (who is now my husband). I regret missing those last few years with my parents now that they're gone, of course. But with the memories of those Sundays, Mamma left most of her precious finds to me when she died this year. I anticipate when our house is completed and those antiques are released from storage, I will have the same awe for them as I did seeing them for the first time.
I never get tired of going into our antique stores here, either. One of them bought the old printing equipment and assets at the old newspaper when it closed. The owner holds the printer's blocks for me and I go in and buy a few each month. When my office is done, I'll hang the printer's drawer I picked up at an auction from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and place my blocks in it. The other store gets a new assortment of antique Christmas ornaments every once in awhile. I already have a large collection of these - again, from Mom and so I buy these carefully - with the antiques I already own, I don't have room for a lot more.
In the process, of course, I'll be sniffing for a story - and looking for new friends.